Evaporating-pan.



N0. 635,876. Patented Oct. 3|, I899.

-- G. H. SOULE.

EVAPORATING PAN.

(Application filed June 1, 1897.)

(No Model.)

wvcmeoow ms' Mom's Pzrzn co. PHOTQ-LATHQ, WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. SOULE, OF FAIRFIELD, VERMONT, ASSIGNOR TO THE VERMONT FARllT MACHINE COMPANY, OF BELLOWS FALLS, VERMONT.

EVAPORATlNG-PAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,876, dated October 31, 1899.

Application filed June 1, 1897. Serial No. 638,844. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Beitknown that I, GEORGE H. SOULE,acitizen of the United States of America, residing at Fairfield, in the county of Franklin and State of Vermont, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Evaporators, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a top view. Fig. 2 is a front end view. Fig. 3 is a view of the pan and furnace in partial vertical lengthwise section of the plane denoted by the dotted line a: a; of Fig. 2 and the dotted line and arrow in Fig. 1.

The object of the improvement is the production of an evaporating-pan having certain novelties of construction and advantages of operation as compared with the prior art.

This invention was devised in connection with the evaporation of the sap of the sugarmaple into syrup and will be spoken of herein as applied to that purpose.

In the accompanying drawings the letter a denotes the evaporating-pan, having a substantially flat bottom throughout except where it is slightly depressed at a near its front end, and 1) denotes the furnace thereunder. The pan is divided for its entire length into two parts by the dividing-leafs, which rests on the bottom of the pan throughout and even has at its forward end a downward extension fitting said depression a and transversely perforated, as at 0, thus creating a channel for the course of the liquid under evaporation, first from the. rear end to the front end, thence transversely across the pan through said depression, wherein it passes through the perforations in the leaf 0, and then from the front end back again to the rear end.

The liquid by flowing into the depressed portion of the pan is brought nearer to the heat andby means of the perforations in the leaf 0 is finely divided, so that it flows in fine streams across the point at which there is the greatest amount of heat, and is thus more intensely heated. v

The channel bears at intervals the lateral leaves 01, extending alternately from the sides and from the leaf, which give the fluid a tortuous course for the whole length of its run.

The letters 6 denote the starting-point or inlets for the liquid to be evaporated, one at each end of the channel, and f denotes outlets for drawing off the liquid after it has been evaporated to the desired consistency. When one inlet is used, the outlet at the opposite side is employed, and vice versa.

The front end of the furnace is seen in Fig. 2. At or near this front end of the furnace the heat of combustion carried on therein is naturally and necessarily greatest, and as the depressed portion of the pan-bottom is directly over this point of greatest heat the sap will be brought to a higher temperature here than at any other point in its course. The heat farther back or at the rear of the furnace where the sap is admitted and drawn ofi is naturally and necessarily less.

The advantages of a tortuous channel are well known; but in this apparatus the length thereof is practically doubled by the leaf 0. That, however, is not the chief of the advantages attained by this construction. In the evaporation of maple-sap into syrup it is desirable both for the quality of the product and to prevent the scorching thereof that the heat applied in the evaporating process should be least both at the beginning and the end thereof, something which is attained by this construction. Again, this construction has marked advantages in dealing with the malate of lime in the evaporation of maple-sap into syrup. First, there is nothing like the amount of production of malate of lime when, as in this process, the heat is least both at the beginning and end of the evaporation, and, second, the greatest danger and trouble from the malate of lime is the liability of the scorching of it with consequent discoloration 0 of the syrup and the impairment of its flavor,

a trouble which is in a practical sense wholly overcome by this construction and process, where the heat applied is greatest midway of the course of the liquid.

The pan is provided with inlets for sap and outlets for syrup at both ends of the channel, so that the course of the liquid may be reversed from time to time.

I claim as my improvement 1. The herein-described evaporator comprising a furnace, a pan having a substantially fiat bottom with a depressed portion therein standing over the point of greatest heat, and means for causing a tortuous flow of sap in the pan in such a manner that at substantially the middle of its flow it Will pass through said depressed portion, substantially as described.

2. The herein-described evaporating apparatus consisting of a pan provided with a central depression at its forward end, a dividingleaf extending from the front to the rear end thereof and across the depression and provided with a series of perforations near its lower edge directly above said depression, and inlet and exit pipes both located at the rear. end of the pan remote from the depression and on either side of the dividing-leaf, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The herein-described evaporating apparatus, the same consisting of a pan provided with a central depression at its front end, a dividing-leaf extending from the front to the rear end thereof and having an opening above said depression, a series of radial leaves on either side of the dividing-leaf extending alternately from said leaf and from the sides of the pan for forming a tortuous passage for the fluid, a source of heat under said depression, and inlet and outlet passages on opposite sides of said leaf at the rear end of the pan, all as and for the purpose set forth.

GEORGE H. SOULE.

\Vitnesses:

W. H. FAIRCHILD, D. N. HUNTER. 

